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Jakarta (AFP) - Lying on a massage table at a spa in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, Feri Tilukay closed his eyes and smiled blissfully as three enormous snakes slithered all over him.

He is one of a small band of customers brave enough to try the "snake massage", where the gentle hands of a professionally trained masseuse are swapped for the cold, scaly skin of six-foot (1.8-metre) pythons.

"It is a very unique sensation," Tilukay, 31, told AFP, as the snakes slid over him during a recent session, adding the treatment "gives you an adrenaline rush".

Dressed only in a pair of shorts, he seemed completely relaxed as three reptiles named Jasmine, Muscle and Brown got to work on him.

But when we lived in Texas years ago, we had a neighbor who had a young 4 to 5 foot boa constrictor as a pet. He used to walk around with the thing wrapped around his waist. All the kids thought it was "neat" ... but were too chicken to take the guy up on letting the snake's little red forked tongue reach out to touch their fingers.

Guess who did?

He was correct. It did feel like being tickled by a feather!

Obviously the young snake did not think that I was suitable prey, thank goodness!